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Mark Hollis
Mark Hollis (born January 17, 1962) is an American politician who is the 45th and current President of the United States since 2017. He was previously a United States Senator from Minnesota from 2003 to 2015, the 38th Governor of Minnesota from 1995 to 2003, and a Member of the Minnesota Senate representing the 12th district from 1991 to 1995. Early life and early career Mark Hollis was born on January 17, 1962 in Duluth, Minnesota to Randall Hollis, a union ironworker and his wife Barbara Dean, a school teacher. He joined the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party at the age of eighteen and voted for the first time in the 1980 presidential election. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Minnesota Duluth in 1984 and his Juris Doctorate from the University of Minnesota Law School in 1986. He then served as a law clerk for United States Supreme Court Justice Arne Michaels from 1986 to 1990. Hollis resigned from his clerkship to run for the Minnesota Senate in the Duluth-based 12th district. He won the Democratic stronghold by a wide margin because of its history of a largely unionized workforce in the mining industry. During his two terms in the state senate he was known for his pro-labor liberal populism and supported tax reform to close corporate loopholes. He was chosen as the Democratic nominee for Governor in the 1994 election defeating Republican nominee, Art Miteff, a pro-choice moderate businessman from Victoria by 50%–47%. Governor of Minnesota Hollis was sworn in as Governor of Minnesota on January 7, 1995 ten days before his thirty-third birthday. Throughout his governorship Governor Hollis continued to be a vocal supporter of labor unions as well as teachers' unions, opposing restrictions on entering unions which was supported by the Republican-majority legislature and funding public school education generously. The state was running a budget surplus during his first term which is how he funded public education. Governor Hollis was re-elected in the 1998 gubernatorial election over conservative Republican U.S. Representative Tanner Bolton who represented Minnesota's 6th congressional district by 65%–34%. During his second term, Hollis strongly advocated for land-use reform and substantial mass transit improvements, such as light rail. He made the light rail project a priority, obtaining additional funding from the Minnesota state legislature to keep the project moving. The METRO Blue Line was completed in 2004, a year after his tenure as Governor ended. He opted to run for the United States Senate in the 2002 election instead of for a third four-year term as governor. United States Senate Governor Hollis was elected to the United States Senate in the 2002 election facing Art Miteff, the former Chairman of the Minnesota Republican Party who he faced in his first run for governor eight years prior. The election was close yet again with Hollis beating Miteff by by 50%–49%. He was sworn in on January 3, 2003. In the Senate, Hollis was known for his work for peace, the environment, labor, and health care. He opposed congressional approval for military action in the Middle East in 2004 and passed a bipartisan energy policy bill in 2006 known as the Energy Security, Affordability, and Reliability Act of 2006. Senator Hollis opposed the National Right to Work Legality Defense Act introduced by Senators Todd Kirkpatrick (R–OK) and Bruce Owens III (R–NE) in 2007 which would have instituted a nationwide right-to-work law or a national statute that would prohibit union security agreements between companies and workers' unions. Under right-to-work laws, employees in unionized workplaces may not be compelled to join a union, nor compelled to pay for any part of the cost of union representation, while generally receiving the same benefits as union members who do contribute. During his 2008 re-election campaign Senator Hollis came out in favor of universal healthcare which was renewed as part of the party platform at the 2008 Democratic National Convention. He won re-election by 57%–42% over Republican nominee, Hennepin County Sheriff Chip Brooks. In the 2008 elections retook the Senate and he was appointed Chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP Committee) where he served until 2015. He authored the Democratic universal healthcare bill in 2010 the passed in that Democratic-majority Senate but its counterpart did not pass in the Republican-majority House. In 2013, following the Democratic loss in the 2012 presidential election he was seen early on as a frontrunner for the nomination in 2016. Senator Hollis announced he was not running for a third term in late 2013 and his tenure ended on January 3, 2015. 2016 Presidential Campaign On May 26, 2015, Former Senator Mark Hollis officially announced his presidential candidacy at | |[[Category:Characters]]||}} Category:Presidents of the United States